So far this season Liverpool have looked a much more disciplined side and one that has proven extremely difficult for teams to break down, they came into this directly off a comfortable 1-0 win against Brighton in which they barely looked troubled by their opponents. At Anfield, they looked particularly impenetrable keeping 7 clean sheets in 10 games in the league and the 3 times they had conceded they limited their opponents to just a single goal. However, as has been the case a lot in recent years, when Crystal Palace play Liverpool form, tactics and expectations seem to fly out the window as all hell breaks look and fans have to just grab hold of something and enjoy the ride.
Jurgen Klopp made 3 changes to his lineup bringing in Joel Matip at centre back, asking James Milner to cover at right-back and switched Shaqiri for Keita in midfield. He set up the side in the 4-2-3-1 formation and moved Mane over to the right and asked Keita to play on the left wing. Roy Hodgson set up a very defensive team going for a 4-5-1 formation with the gameplan clearly to keep as many players behind the ball as possible and then look to hit Liverpool on the counter whenever possible. Hodgson was forced into giving veteran 39-year-old Julian Speroni his first start of the season in goal after suffering injuries to his two main goalkeeping options. Liverpool got off to a strong start, Palace's tactics allowed Liverpool to see a lot of the ball but there was limited space for the forwards to move and so the majority of play was between the midfielders and central defenders who were playing extremely high up the pitch.
The first big chance came to Liverpool after a long spell of possession, Joel Matip had made his way further up the pitch to the point he was lurking on the edge of the box as Milner carried the ball forward from the right wing. The giant defender made a run into the area and was found by Milner but Speroni saw the move develop and rushed off his line to block the shot. Besides that attempt Palace did a good job staying compact and restricted Liverpool to efforts from long range and headed chances from set pieces, none of which they managed to convert. Palace were trying their best to break away when the chance would arise but couldn't seem to string more than 2 passes together before they move would be shut down by Fabinho or Henderson. On the 32nd minute, though Palace managed to launch a counterattack that caught Liverpool out, James McArthur had been on the ball deep inside his own half and under heavy pressure from Liverpool's players. McArthur managed to play the ball out and the ball was sent forward towards Zaha on the wing and this time there was nobody back to clean up. Zaha easily got the better of Milner and carried the ball into the penalty area where he cut it back for teammate Andros Townsend to tuck away with a terrific finish. Completely against the run of play Palace had managed to take advantage of Liverpool over-committing the press and snatched the 0-1 lead. The goal did not alter either teams approach as the final 15 minutes of the first half played out in the same way the rest had with Palace defending deep and Liverpool restricted to long-range shots from outside the box and set pieces until half-time.
The game got underway for the second half and it wasn't long before Liverpool were once again on the offensive. Virgil van Dijk was able to get forward through the middle and attempted a long-range strike which was deflected before even making it into the box. The deflection caused the ball to loop over the Palace backline and dropped down towards Salah who was standing on the edge of the 6-yard box. Speroni seemed to be in two minds whether to come for it or remain on his line and by the time he had made that decision, Salah had already guided the ball into the back of the net with a wonderful deft finish using the outside of his boot. It was still only seconds into the second half and Liverpool were back on level terms at 1-1. The momentum seemed to be with Liverpool and they continued to attack, a long-range shot from Andy Roberston went wide but within 7 minutes of the restart, Liverpool scored another. Naby Keita gave the ball to Firmino inside the penalty area and the Brazilian shifted the ball onto his right and shot for goal, he was closed down by a defender and while he did manage to block the shot from going into the bottom left corner of the goal the deflection only served to re-direct it into the bottom left. Speroni didn't have time to react to the change of direction and could only watch as the ball rolled into the goal to put Liverpool into the lead, 2-1.
Liverpool has been so strong defensively all season and so once they took the lead it may have seemed like the rest of the game would be a formality. However, on the 65th minute Palace levelled up the scoreline to 2-2 from a corner courtesy of some uncharacteristically sloppy marking by Liverpool's defenders. James Tomkins was left alone at the far post and allowed to simply head the ball into the goal without challenge as the ball was crossed to him. Liverpool once again reacted well to conceding and continued with their attacking pressure, around the 75th minute Fabinho made a delightful switch over to the right where Milner had made a forward run into the box. Milner met it with his foot but didn't strike it cleanly which in turn made it awkward for Speroni to deal with, the Palace keeper got a hand to it ball the ball looped back towards goal. The race was on with Tomkins trying to clear it before the ball crossed the line however he was beaten by lighting quick Mo Salah who met the ball on the line and made sure it crossed by smashing it into the empty net for his 50th Premier League goal and 16th this season and gave his side the 3-2 lead.
The game became even more chaotic in the final 10 minutes as Palace now had nothing to hold on for they had to go for it which opened the game right up. Both sides had chances with Mane striking the ball from distance and Wan-Bisaka almost getting in with a header following a freekick. On the 88th minute, Liverpool were reduced to 10 men after a stray pass from Henderson set up a 50/50 challenge between Zaha and Milner. Zaha had been tormenting Milner all game with his clear speed advantage and once again beat him to the ball looking to play it to his teammate and launch another counter, but Milner left a trailing leg taking Zaha out and was shown his 2nd yellow card of the game seeing him leave the field with 2 minutes plus injury time still to play.
Despite having fewer players on the pitch it was actually Liverpool who had the next best chances on goal, Mo Salah and Mane pressed Tomkins into conceding possession and found themselves 2 on 2 inside the Palace penalty area. Mane did not use Salah though and had a shot at goal that went wide. He would make up for the missed chance minutes later though when he received the ball on the left wing and brought it into the Palace box. Once again he had Salah with him asking for the ball but once again Mane went for it himself and this time beautifully curled the ball around Speroni and into the far corner of the goal to send Liverpool further in front with a 4-2 lead. Surely now Liverpool fans could relax? It wasn't over just yet though! On the 94th minute, the ball was played in from the right wing where substitutes combined to beat Alisson once again and bring Palace back to within 1 goal of an equaliser. The cross came into Conor Wickham who brought it down and knocked it back for Max Meyer to strike in from just inside the penalty area to bring the score to 4-3.
Palace launched one last attack but the ball was hit over the bar and with that, the referee put Liverpool fans out of their misery and blew the full-time whistle. It was a thrilling game and a throwback to Liverpool of previous years who's defending had been under much scrutiny but were always able to rely on their main men up front to bail them out. They got the job done though and picked up another win taking them to 60 points in the league and 7 points clear of Manchester City in 2nd ahead of their Sunday game at Huddersfield. Liverpool now take an extended break and January out to Dubai for some warm weather training before returning to action on the 30th Januaray against Leicester.